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Thursday, December 9, 2010

Winter People Are Best

"It is interesting to note how much like the seasons people are. I know some people who are summer people, and I am happy to be with them. They are gay and easy and full of pleasant talk. But they would never do for an emergency. There are people like spring, too, volatile and blowing one way one minute and another way the next. They are charming. Autumnal people are sober and grave, I find, but with bursts of color.But winter people are the best and there are few of them. They are the friends who are deep and true, once you penetrate to the secret warmth. The surface may not be as gay and charming but under the austere surface runs the living sap of loving-kindness. These are friends to call when there is an emergency, big or small. They are the ones who never expect gratitude for favors done, it is a matter of course to help out, think nothing of it.But it is wrong to expect summer people and spring people and even autumn people to be different than they are by nature.One of the wisest remarks anyone ever made to me was long ago when I was sad because a very dear friend had failed me in a very real way. Faith Baldwin said to me then, 'Love people for what they do have, never for what they do not.' And she added, 'Love them for what they have meant to you no matter what they may mean to you now.'" -Gladys Taber, Stillmeadow Sampler

Often when I read Gladys Taber or Hal Borland I can't quite forgive the Universe that I will never be able to meet and befriend them. It's a strange thing to feel so kindred with people who aren't here anymore. It makes me sad sometimes. But then I am also filled with gratitude that they wrote down their thoughts, so a young woman far away in Austria could read them and pull the words close to her heart so many years later. And in the description for 'Stillmeadow Sampler,' Gladys Taber writes, "This book is really a letter to my friends, especially those I have never seen or met."

We share a love for Gladys Taber, but I have yet to discover Hal Borland. I've intended for a long time to get to know him and you're inspiring me to hurry up about it. I can always count on you to come up with things that touch my heart. This was a beautiful post, picture included, and as always, I thank you for it.

Thank you dear Dawn for your words of comfort and for the words in this posting.

I think another thing to remember is that our expectations of friends can be devastating. I've learned never to expect things of people, but instead to let things flow towards me slowly and to accept the gifts of friendship as they arrive.

I've had Hal Borland books since they were first published. I've read every one of his and I think they're now moved from our cottage in Maine to our Comfort Found Literary Lodging in Damariscotta. I want others to read him.